In the sermon 'Dead to Sin, Alive to God,' Jason Dohm discusses a passage from 1 Peter, which emphasizes the transformation that occurs when one becomes a Christian. Peter's message centers on the idea that, through Christ's suffering and sacrifice, believers are called to live a new life, free from the bondage of sin and governed by the will of God. Baptism serves as a symbol of this transformation, representing dying to sin and rising to a new life in Christ. The sermon underscores the necessity of arming oneself with the mind of Christ to fight against the remnants of sin and live in holiness. Peter urges believers to abstain from former lusts and live in a way that glorifies God, even when this attracts criticism from non-believers. The sermon also highlights the distinction between living under the law and under grace, explaining that while obedience remains important, the penalty for sin has been borne by Christ. Ultimately, the gospel is preached so that all, both living and dead, might have the opportunity to embrace new life in God, avoiding eternal separation.

Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourself also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the loss of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles, when we walk in lewdness, lust, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to this, they think it is strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. They will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this reason, the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they may be judged according to man in the flesh, but live according to God and His Spirit." The title of the sermon this morning is, Dead to Sin, Alive to God.

And that's the title because I think that's what the text is about. And Peter is just coming out of identifying the things that he's been speaking of with baptism. And baptism is a symbol of just this thing. Identifying with Jesus Christ in His death so that we might identify with Him in His resurrection and be raised up to live a new life, dying to sin, and become being made alive to God. Peter has touched on a theme twice already in this letter, and he returns to it now and he begins to develop it.

So I want you to see that. So flip back to 1 Peter 1. I want to show you the two places where he's touched on this theme. And then we'll come back to our text. So 1 Peter 1 verses 13 through 16 Peter says, Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts as in your ignorance, But as He who called you as holy, you also be holy in all your conduct." So this is the introduction of a theme in this letter. Peter is acknowledging the former lusts. In other words, those who are Christians are in a very different world now having embraced the Gospel than they were before. There were former lusts that had you pressed into a mold, governed by, ruled over by those lusts. And so Peter comes to say, Christians, don't be like that anymore.

But as obedient children, be free from having to be conformed to those lusts that dominated you in your life before Christ. So it's a call to holiness. It's a call to live a life that's set apart to live for God. Now we're going to see this again in 1 Peter chapter 2. So now look forward to 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 11 and 12 where Peter says, and 12 where Peter says, Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.

Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation." So Peter here in chapter 2 repeats the theme acknowledging the former lusts of the life before Christ and again calling to holiness and then he adds this, He adds a motivation that there are going to be onlookers who are not yet in Christ and may never be in Christ. There are people who are watching your life and If you'll abstain from the fleshly lust which wore against your souls, then the onlookers will be brought to glorify God. So he gives them motivation. Now Peter gives us the ground that we must stand on to fight this fight. He has introduced the fight, which is there are lusts that want to press you into their mold.

To Have you look just like the world looks. And when you've been saved, your disposition towards God has changed. So that you no longer are willing to just be forced into the mold and look like the rest of the world. And so there is a fight to be fought. There's a war to be waged.

But you have to stand on a certain ground in order to be able to wage that war. If you stand on different ground and try to wage this war, it'll be futility. You'll not be able to make progress. You'll not be able to withstand the enemies that are warring against you. And So in our text, Peter is giving us the ground that we have to stand on to fight this fight and to wage this war.

As we go to the text, let's pray. Our Father, I thank you for your Word that teaches us how to think as we ought to think, that actually arms us for the warfare that you're calling us to fight, gives us solid ground to stand upon to wage this war. God I pray that you will press these truths home. You would cause us to love your truth and to walk in Your truth, to hear and to obey for Your glory. You have called us out of darkness into Your marvelous light, that we may proclaim Your praises.

Make us into that kind of a people through the preaching and hearing and obeying of your word in Jesus name. Amen. So let's begin by re-reading verses 1 and 2. Peter writes, Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind. For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of man, but for the will of God." Verses 1 and 2 are about arming yourself to live a new life.

There's a new life to be lived in Christ. But it doesn't happen as a matter of course. There's a fight to be fought. And you have to arm yourself for it. You have to arm your mind for the fight to live a new life.

Listen to 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

Peter is calling us to a life where the old things have passed away and all things have become new. Peter is calling us to be a new creation and then to live like you're a new creation. Chapter 3, we were just there in chapter 3, chapter 3 verse 18 is the key. It is The ground on which we must stand to fight the war against the passions that still remain in us. These lusts which want to press us into their mold.

Chapter 3 verse 18 is the ground on which we must stand and it's where Peter first started talking about the sufferings of Christ. So look back at 3 verse 18. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit. So Paul talks about, excuse me, Peter talks about what it means to be put to death in the flesh and to be given a new life by the Spirit. And the ground for our fight against the old man is the sacrificial suffering of Christ.

And So that's right where Peter brings us in chapter 4 verse 1. Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind. He gives us ground to stand on. Firm ground, high ground, from which you can wage the war against your old lusts, against the old man. He is saying, since Christ did that, since the just died for the unjust to bring you to God.

You now take on the same mind. Peter is saying that Jesus Christ has bought us a new life. At the cost of His own blood, Jesus bought you a new life. Now live a new life. He didn't buy you a new life to live the old life more, as if nothing had changed.

He bought you a new life so that you would live a new life. Now understand how this relates to baptism. At the end of chapter 3, leading us right into this week's text, Peter has been talking about baptism. Baptism is the symbol of being joined with Christ in His death. He died for sinners so that the wrath of God against sin would be poured out not on the sinner but on Jesus in His place because He lived a blameless life and he can stand in your place.

So baptism symbolizes that. You deserve death so you're being joined with him so that the penalty for your sins has been paid through Jesus' work on the cross. And now what? Is that the end of the story? You just die with him?

No! You die with him so that you might be raised with him, you might live with him. So baptism is this picture going down into the water, death, burial, but not left there, but raised up out of the water to picture walking in a new life. Now, Peter is not teaching that Christians no longer sin. He says ceased from sin, but he is not teaching that Christians no longer sin.

1 John 1 verse 8 says this, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. In other words, you're a liar if you say you have no sin. You are a big fat liar if you say you have no sin. So Peter is not contradicting John here. Peter and John are not standing in opposition to one another teaching different things.

What Peter is teaching when he talks about the ceasing of sin is completely compatible with what John is teaching when he says, you are lying if you say you have no sin. At the end of verse 1 in our text here, Peter says, For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. The Greek that's rendered ceased literally means to make to cease. To make to cease or to restrain a person from something. In other words, it's a calling to restrain yourself from sin.

It's saying that Christians have done that. They have restrained themselves. They have made themselves to cease from sin. Not perfectly, not finally, but it's a self-restraint from sin. Now why would they do that?

Why would Peter call the Christian to do that? Because they can do that. For the first time they can do that. It's a waste of time, it's a waste of breath, it's a waste of energy to tell an unrepentant person to restrain themselves from sin. They have no capacity to do it.

Because the old man is in full form. The old man is ruling and reigning. The old man is in complete control. So you don't go try to take the speck out of an unrepentant person's life. The last thing they need to do is to clean up their life a little more.

They need to repent. They need to throw themselves upon the mercy of God And then they have a ground to stand upon from which you can say, brother you have a speck in your eye. Peter is teaching that if you have been joined with Christ in His death, what baptism is symbolizing, If you have been joined with Christ in His death, walk in newness of life. Live born again. This is what Peter is exhorting us to.

To live born again. To live as if you have been given a new life. Now turn to Romans 6. Turn to Romans 6. In Romans 6, Paul is giving an exposition of our text in 1 Peter.

It's like Paul was preaching the sermon on Peter's text. He's just unfolding it, he's shining a floodlight on it, he's making it so clear. So Peter gives it in a wonderfully concise form. But Paul actually takes it up and expands on it in Romans 6. And he folds in all the same themes.

He folds in baptism, which Peter has just talked about. He talks about death to sin. He talks about being raised in newness of life. He talks about what it was like to be a slave to sin and then what it's like to be free from that, not have to sin and to offer your members as slaves of righteousness. So let's listen to Paul's exposition of 1 Peter 4 by going to Romans 6.

So Keep your finger in Romans 6 because I'm going to be sprinkling in a few comments as we go. I couldn't find a more efficient way to do this. So as we go, I'll be making a few comments and then just returning right to where I left off in the reading. So track with me in Romans 6 beginning in verse 1. Paul writes, What shall we say then?

Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? So Paul here has opened up the same topic. Dying to sin, ceasing from sin, and then not continuing to live in it, living born again, living the new life.

Continuing in verse 3. Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death. Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death. That just as Jesus was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." In other words, for the Christian there is a new reality. It's what the Bible calls being born again, being a new creation.

And there's a new reality in life that opens up the possibility to walk in newness of life and we ought to, we're called to. The Holy Spirit leads us always in that direction. The Word of God always drives us in that direction. So the Christian is experiencing a new reality and we are supposed to walk according to the new reality. Verse 5.

For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin, For he who has died has been freed from sin." I believe this is when Peter talks about ceasing from sin, this is what he is talking about. Verse 8. Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we also shall live with Him. Knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him.

For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life that he lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also. You see what just happened. What Paul just did.

He did exactly what Peter is doing in our text. He talks about Jesus. He talks about his suffering and death on our behalf as our substitute. And then he says that Jesus is the example. He dies but then he lives to God.

And then he says in verse 11, likewise you also. That's exactly what Peter is doing. As Jesus lives to God, you do that too. Because he has purchased a new life for you through the work of the cross. Verse 11, Likewise you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now in 1 Peter, Peter is going to say arm yourselves also with the same mind. This is what Paul is saying. Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. That is the mindset that Peter is calling us to in our text. Verse 12.

Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, But present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace. You are no longer having been identified with Jesus Christ and the wrath for your sins transferred not to you, but to Jesus Christ on your behalf.

A new life has been purchased for you. So you are free. You're free. You're not under law anymore. You're under grace.

Now that doesn't mean What the evangelical world now thinks that it means, which is that obedience doesn't matter anymore. That's not what Paul's teaching. That's not what Peter is teaching. That's not what Jesus ever taught. That obedience doesn't matter.

That doesn't teach that. But it means the penalty for law breaking falls upon Christ, not on you. You're not under law in that way. Obedience matters, but the penalty for disobedience no longer falls on the shoulders of Christians, those who have been saved by faith, it falls upon Christ. So you are under grace.

And so, now having been given a new life, you are not to offer your members as slaves to unrighteousness, but you are to offer those members as slaves to righteousness. You're to be a living sacrifice, as Paul will say later in Romans, in Romans 12, too. So back to our text. Now, having read that, I want to read verses 1 and 2 again. So Paul has given us lenses and exposition and explanation of this.

Now let's go back and look at what Peter has said looking through those lenses. 1 Peter 4 verse 1. Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God." Christians because we are united with Christ, you are free from having to live to satisfy your lusts. Did you get that? Because you are united with Christ, you're free, you're free from having to live to satisfy your lusts.

The unrepentant people are not free from that at all. They have to live to satisfy their lusts. But Christians do not have to live to satisfy their lusts and their passions. They are free to live the rest of their lives for the will of God. So this is what Peter calls us to.

It's to walk in freedom. Not to be re-entangled in sin. But because we've been given a new life to walk like we have a new life because we've been set free to continue to walk in freedom. Though you are free, this is not automatic. So Peter keeps using wartime language.

You notice that? He keeps hitting that in this letter. He's talking about fighting, warring, arming yourself. So it is a foregone conclusion that someone by grace who has been given saving faith will pursue the will of God. It's not a foregone conclusion.

It must be fought for. And So Peter is calling us to fight for it. He says arm yourself with the same mind as Jesus, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. I'm pulling now language from Hebrews chapter 12 that talks about this mind of Christ that we're to arm ourselves in the fight with. It's this mind of Christ that Jesus went to the cross not because he was relishing the thought of bearing the shame of all that sin.

He despised the shame. But who was willing for the joy that was set before him. Now you think like that. This is what Peter is saying. Now you think like that.

So You might be willing to endure something now for the joy that is set before you. That you now have the ability to see your life in the perspective of eternity. And you see that Your life is just a vapor. It's like the flower of the field, which is here today, but is gone tomorrow. And so for the joy that is set before you, you can endure all kinds of hardships, all kinds of suffering.

You can endure a war against the passions that are remaining. Peter sets before us a mindset that is ready to take up the cross and to follow Jesus. That's what he's saying. Jesus went to the cross, you follow him. You arm your minds with a mindset that is ready to go and do what Jesus did.

Not in the same way, not with the same effect, but with a mindset that is ready to take up the cross because that's our calling. Jesus in Matthew 10 and then again in Matthew 16 says take up your cross and follow me. This is the calling of Christians that we follow Jesus who went to the cross. And in both of those texts, in Matthew 10, when Jesus says, take up the cross and follow me, in Matthew 16, when Jesus says, take up the cross and follow me, in both of those places, He says, Because if you want to save your life, you're going to lose it. If you love this world and the things of this life, the things of this world, and you cling to those things, you're going to lose your life.

It will cost you your soul. But if you lose your life, you'll find it. If you're willing to take up your cross and follow Him, it will show that you're His disciple. It will show that you really do have saving faith and you'll have eternal life. Here's my question.

How tender are you to the will of God? How tender? Peter is setting before us A person who is ready to be done with the old man, the old life, who is ready to be weaned off of the world, and the cares of this life, and the love for the things in this life. To do the will of God for the glory of God. Are you tender towards that?

For a healthy Christian, Knowing something is the will of God is enough. I'm going to say that again. For a healthy Christian, Knowing that something is the will of God is enough to pursue it. A healthy Christian doesn't need further explanation. A healthy Christian doesn't know that it's going to lead to somewhere pleasant and comfortable.

A healthy Christian just needs to know that it pleases his or her Redeemer. And then it's nothing to go and do it. Are you a Christian? Are you a healthy Christian? When I ask that question I look in my own heart, there's some unhealthiness about your preacher.

It's not always enough to just know it's my Redeemer's will, but it should be. And it betrays a lack of health in my spiritual life. And this text is going to drag us, even if it's kicking and screaming, it's going to drag us to ask and answer that question and do a health check. Doesn't this make sense? Isn't this completely logical that a person who's been redeemed from a death penalty that they could never satisfy except for eternal torment, and someone who's been set free from that only needs to know that it's their Redeemer's will to be happy to do it.

This is what Peter is calling us to. Alright, let's press on by reading verses three and five and then considering them. Peter writes, 1 Peter 4, verse 3, for we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles. When we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries, In regard to these, they think it's strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. They will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

In this section, Peter is speaking of the passing away of old things and the response you should expect. Peter describes the things of the old man. In fact, he gives us a list of some things, some of the things that characterize life and the old man. And he gives us very outward things. He gives us very scandalous things.

He speaks of running headlong into unrestrained sin. He is talking about a total abandonment of sin. He is talking about the logical conclusion of a God rejecting life. It takes you there. Some of you can check off every item.

Some of you can look at your past life And check off every single one of these things. Ludeness, giving yourself over to sensuality, check. Lusts, being governed by your passions and your appetites, check. Drunkenness, Check. Revelries.

Total man-centered celebrations without end. Check. Drinking parties. That needs no explanation, does it? Drinking parties, check.

Abominable idolatries. Peter gives us one at the end that just wraps up anything else he might have missed. The things to be loved in this world, the things to be worshipped as if they were gods. It's idolatry as surely as burning incense to a little hand-fashioned item. Or maybe more surely.

It goes right to the affections of the heart. Paul describes this in Philippians 3. In Philippians 3.19, Paul speaks of those whose God is their belly. If you had to roll this list up into one thing, that would be a great summary statement of these things that Peter is listing. Those whose God is their belly.

Whatever their appetite tells them to do, they do it. Whatever there is to be consumed that seems pleasing, they do it. They run after every passion. Some of you can't. Some of you can check off every item, right?

You can look in your past and say, yep, did that, did that, did that, did that. Some of you cannot. You were a quote unquote good boy. You were a quote unquote good boy. You were a quote unquote good girl and you never indulged in the outward expression of what is listed here.

Does what Peter is saying have anything to say to you good boys? Does what Peter is saying here have anything to say to you, you good girls. I want to address that by saying two things. First, to remind you of what Jesus does to the definition of sin in Matthew 5. When he takes up topics like murder and adultery to people who are very confident that they've never broken the sin, They've never broken the commandment against murder.

And who are very confident that they've never broken the commandment against adultery. And Jesus says, really? Are you sure about that? Have you ever hated? Have you ever spoken ill of?

Have you ever lusted? Maybe you thought that you've not broken those commandments against murder and against adultery, But the lawgiver sees it this way. So Jesus is pressing home a point, which is that men and women are always trying to constrict the scope of the commandment and make it so small that they can say they didn't break it. But Jesus as the law giver, as the one who ought to know what it meant, What God meant when He said don't murder, don't commit adultery is expanding. So man is constricting.

God is expanding the view of what it means to have broken these commandments. So when you come to this list and say, I'm not guilty of lewdness, I'm not guilty of lusts, I'm not guilty of drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, abominable idolatries, go to Matthew 5 and make sure, because chances are, you've constricted to make yourself acceptable when you've really broken every single one of these. The second thing I think I ought to say is to remind us all of Luke 15, which is a tale of two sons. One son wasted his substance on riotous living. That's the King James.

He wasted all the resources that his father gave to him in riotous living. And then you're left to your own imaginations on what the riotous living was. It doesn't go any further than that. It just says he wasted his substance on riotous living. But from that, this son was reduced to poverty.

And the poverty drives him to apply to his father for mercy. So at the end of the story, this son is reconciled to his father because he was humiliated and he felt his need. And it drove him back to his father to ask for mercy. The other son stayed on the farm in body. He never indulged in the outward expression of these sins.

But he always secretly wished he could have indulged like his brother did. So at the end of the story, he has not felt the weight of his sin, and he has not gone to his father for mercy. And he is secretly wishing that he had gotten to do all the things that his brother did. Meanwhile, the brother felt the bite of sin. That is the danger for good boys and good girls.

They imagine the pleasures of sin, They never feel the bite of sin. Now, as parents, we don't want our children running off to waste their substance in riotous living, whatever that might be. But at the same time, you cannot stay on the farm in body only. You must feel the weight of your sin and apply to your Father for mercy. Or you'll end up just a hypocrite.

Just one who is despising those who went off and lived in riotous living, but now have come back and gotten mercy from God because they felt the weight of their sin. The point is this, Peter is talking to you, whether your sins fit the scandalous profile that Peter is giving us, or whether your sins are more sophisticated, more hidden, more acceptable. Who did Jesus rail against? Well, no one really. But who was Jesus hardest on?

The tax collectors and the sinners? You found Jesus quite tender-hearted towards those who felt sinful. It was the Pharisees that he comes to in Matthew chapter 3 to say, woe to you, woe to you, Woe to you, woe to you, woe to you, you hypocrites and you sinners who have never felt the weight of your sin. So good boys and good girls who have never indulged outward sinfulness, be very careful. The worst sins, the most repulsive sins, don't require an outward anything.

The worst sins are accompanied by a flood of the means of grace sitting under preaching, being part of a family that will give the gospel to you and love you and care for you, meanwhile you are on the farm only in body, but you are wandering far afield in your soul. And It happens all the time in churches everywhere. When a person has been redeemed, when a person repents and believes the gospel, He or she looks back with sorrow on the wasted years and decades. And they wish they could have it back. Now, The unrepentant person looks back and wishes they could have it back too.

So they could do it all over again. This is a huge difference between those who repent and believe and those who don't. Those who repent and believe, they look back and wish they could have the minutes and hours and days and weeks and months and years and decades back to live for God. The unrepentant person looks back and says, those were the good old days. Those were the glory years.

I wish I could go back and do that all over again. Meanwhile, the person who's been born again is looking to make up for lost time. Do you understand that? The born again person looks back on all that waste and is looking to make up for lost time. The minutes and hours And days and weeks and months and years become very precious.

Because there's time to be made up for. This is what Peter is speaking of. Brothers and sisters, may this be us. May we find ourselves thinking of the minutes and hours and days and weeks as precious. To be bought up, to be redeemed for the glory of God, to live for the will of God.

That we find ourselves wasting less and less time just because we have this pressing sense in our soul that there's no time to waste. We've already wasted all We can waste in those lost years and decades. That we have a redeemer to please. We have such a sense of joy and gratitude from having been set free from the penalty of our sins that we can't possibly waste a minute. Now what happens when you forsake all that and begin to walk in newness of life.

All that life of the past, you walk away from that, and you start to obey what happens then. The unrepentant think it's strange. They find it very weird that you won't run with them into the same old flood of dissipation and unrestrained sin. They think it's strange. It's actually an offense.

It offends them. They understand playing religion and they're okay with that. So Paris Hilton gets busted for all the things that are going on in her life, and she goes to jail, and she finds Jesus in jail. The world is okay with that. So when Larry King, she gets out and Larry King asks her, well what's your favorite Bible verse?

Oh, they're all wonderful. That's her response. They're all wonderful. She can't name one. So the world is okay with the playing of religion that says you find yourself in prison and this is okay as a pick-me-up, so you want to do that, fine, do that.

But you let Paris Hilton turn away from wickedness and watch how fast the world turns on her. This is how it works. You can play religion. If you need it as a pick-me-up, you can have it with no resistance. But don't change your life.

Don't start living in a way that says, my life isn't okay. In Matthew 10 verse 34, Jesus says, do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. That is in the context of your own relatives becoming your enemies because of the gospel. Not that you make yourself their enemy, actually it gives you more of a heart of compassion towards them than you've ever had in your whole life, but it makes them hate you.

It divides them from you. So Jesus was very plain spoken in Matthew 10 verse 34. That we shouldn't expect the gospel to bring us together with the unrepentant. It does exactly the opposite. Even if they are your closest relative, even if it's your sister and you grew up with her and you were with her every day, if it was your mom and your dad, if it's your spouse, The gospel will divide you from those who will not repent.

In Genesis 19, Lot is faced with an angry mob that wants to rape his houseguests. And all Lot is contending for is that it's not right to rape someone's houseguests. And here's what they say. This one came in to stay here. And he keeps acting as a judge.

Now we will deal worse with you than with them. When you read this account, it's clear how much ground Lot had already given to these people. But when he finally draws a line to say, I can't give any more ground, it's not right to do this, This man keeps acting as a judge. We'll treat you worse than we treat them. So if you don't intend to just play religion, to just have something that will be a pick-me-up during times of distress.

And you're really born again. And you really begin to live like it. And to apply the Word of God and to obey the Word of God, you can expect to be spoken evil of, you can expect to be spoken against, you can expect to be slandered by those who won't repent and don't appreciate you pricking their consciences by your obedience. In verse 5, Peter declares how all this will end. He says a day is coming when everyone will give an account.

The people who don't like your lifestyle changes that the Gospel inevitably brings into the Christian life. Did you hear that? The Gospel inevitably brings changes into the Christian's life. If you don't see changes, that means the Gospel has not taken root. It is that simple.

Those who won't repent, and those who speak evil, of those who obey, actually apply the word of God and obey, in order to do the will of God for their Redeemer. They'll stand before a judge and they'll give a count. And Jesus says that one day the judges coming, the nations will be gathered before him. The sheep will be on his right hand and the goats on his left. And on that day it will be good to be separated from the unrepentant.

In this life, it might be grieving to be separated from family members who are unrepentant, but in that day it will be good to be separated from them, from all who practice lawlessness. From all who practice lawlessness. Finally, verse 6. Verse 6. For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who were dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit." In verse 6, Peter gives us the reason for the preaching of the gospel.

Why is the gospel preached, this verse tells us. There are some difficulties in interpreting this verse. And I'm going to tell you how I understand this verse based on a lot of study. But the big point is simple. So set aside the difficulties of the verse for a minute.

The big point of the verse is simple. The gospel is preached that men might live. The gospel is preached so that men might live, so that dead men might live, that dead women might live. And keep the body from dying. One day all of our bodies are going to die.

Without exception. The same has been true from the very beginning. But if you repent, There will be a spiritual resurrection being born again. It keeps you from being touched by the second death. It's not the first death of the body you need to worry about.

It's the second death that lands a person in eternal separation from God, in eternal torment. Listen to what Ezekiel is told to say in Ezekiel 33 verse 11. In Ezekiel 33 verse 11, God tells Ezekiel what to say. Say to them, as I live says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. But let the wicked turn from His way and live.

Turn, turn from your evil ways. For why should you die, O house of Israel?" This is what God tells His prophets to say. Turn and live! And the understanding of the gospel, and the articulation of the gospel, got so much clearer after the coming of Jesus Christ. It became so much more understandable.

So much sweeter. So much more precious after Jesus came and died. But the foundations of the Gospel have always been that. Turn and live. Oh you wicked man, why would you die when you're offered life?

Turn, turn from your wicked ways and live. And brothers and sisters, if our commitment to the doctrine of election, which is a precious doctrine that God has chosen from before the foundation of the earth who he will have mercy on but if our commitment to that doctrine has us thinking that God somehow takes pleasure in the death of the wicked, then we are believing something that is explicitly contrary to the Word of God. If you think that God Choosing who he'll show mercy to from before the foundation of the world somehow means that God takes pleasure in the death of the wicked, then you've not understood. That's not true. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

He offers them pardon. And it is the rejection of the pardon that ultimately ends in their condemnation. He calls sinners to repent and live that they might live. That is the reason for the preaching of the gospel is that men and women and children might live. Might live.

My understanding of this verse and the complexities of it, the hard parts of it, I see it through the lens of verse 5, where Peter has spoken of a God who judges the living and the dead. I think that means that when Jesus comes back, a generation will be alive, they'll be judged. But not just them, but all those who have died will be called to the judgment seat as well. And those who aren't alive in the generation when Jesus comes back will be judged just like the living are. So I think verse 5 is physically living at the time of the return of Jesus Christ and physically dead at the time of Jesus Christ, all will be judged.

And so I think that verse 6 also means those who are physically dead. It's actually easier to explain if it's spiritually dead, so if you want to believe that, I'm all for that. But I think the actual, what Peter is actually teaching is physically dead. Peter is bringing us face to face with the fate of all men. Physical death.

Sin entered the world and all men die. So when you go back to Genesis, you see this rhythm in the early chapters, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died. And so it remains to this day, and the same words can be said of you and you die. But the preaching of the gospel makes possible spiritual resurrection. That your spirit is raised from the dead.

It's what it means to be born again. And being alive to God is possible. Living for His glory. Doing His will is possible. Being with Him eternally is possible.

So I believe that what Peter is doing here is he's bringing us face to face with the dead whose time to embrace the gospel has come and gone. I think that's what Peter is doing in this verse. He's bringing us face to face with the dead. And the gospel was preached to them. Pardon was offered to them.

But their time to receive or not receive, receive or reject is gone. Your time will come and go too. You're under the sound of the preaching of the Gospel because of the mercy of God. But it won't always be so. So Peter would have us walk in wisdom and to know that that day is coming when God will judge the living and the dead.

A few concluding remarks. This is a mighty call for unbelievers to consider their end. To be brought face to face with the dead whose time has come and gone. And they've either embraced the gospel or they've rejected it. And it has cemented their condition for all eternity.

And you've been given the gift of preaching, unbeliever. You have been given the gift of preaching that if you repent and believe, you'll have life. Choose life. I've said before you this day life and death. Choose life.

This is a mighty call for believers to consider the spending of their lives. Believer, you're spending your life. Does it look at all like the old life? All like the old life. It looks too much like the old life.

So Peter comes to say, believer, you died. You died to sin. Now live. Now live to God. It's a call to live to God.

This text is an impassioned plea. That we wouldn't live any longer. We wouldn't spend one more second in those old ways. That we would walk in newness of life. Believer, stop messing around with those old things.

I wish I had a mirror in front of me to look at myself when I say that. Jason, stop messing around with those old things. And walk in newness of life. Jesus didn't die for us to just keep walking in those old things. He died to call us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

That we may proclaim the praises. That we may proclaim his praises. Let's pray. God, I pray that you would send conviction of sin upon us. You would use your word to make us very uncomfortable with our sin.

That unbelievers would be pressed. Would be brought face to face with the dead. Those whose time to receive or reject the Gospel has come and gone. And now they are what they are for all eternity. God, I pray that you would come and prick the consciences of believers, your children, who are too entangled in the old ways.

God, I pray that you would call us out of those old things. That We would put off the old man. We would put on Christ. We would live for you. Oh God, have mercy on us.

Change us. Send Your Spirit to provoke us. Send Your Spirit to convict of sin where we've dulled our consciences to make them sharp again, Lord. I pray for your work in our lives in Jesus name. Amen.